Card stop motion



Sept. 6, 1966 J. H. YON, JR

CARD STOP MOTION 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 9, 1963 INVENTOR. JAMESHYON, LE2.

A TTOEA/E KS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 J. H. YON, JR

CARD STOP MOTION "III flmhnmll Sept. 6, 1966 Filed Dec;

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CoMPEEssEb INVENTOR. JAMEs H. YoN J12. BY dz fifflfi dwlmg ATTORNEYSUnited States Patent 3,270,374 CARD STOP MOTION James H. Yon, In,Charlotte, N.C., assignor to .Iett Mfg. Corp, Charlotte, N.C., acorporation of North Carolina Filed Dec. 9, 1963, Ser. No. 329,004 8Claims. (Cl. 19-.25)

the tension in the sliver falling below a predetermined amount.

There have been many different types of card stop motions heretoforeproposed which have operated to stop the card in response to a break ora reduction of tension in the sliver. These prior types of stop motionshave included completely mechanical types as well as electrical typeswhich require one or more electrical switches. However, these prior stopmotions have not met with widespread commercial acceptance.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improvedcard stop motion having components utilizing fluid pressure which may beeasily installed on various types of carding machines without requiringany extensive modifications of the card and which is inexpensive toproduce, and has a long useful life.

It is a more specific object of the present invention to provide animproved stop motion for a card which includes a detector elementpositioned in engagement with and normally held in a first position bythe moving sliver as it is produced by the card, the detector beingmovable to a second position in response to a break or slackening oftension in the sliver and being operatively connected to a pressurizedfluid system which is operable to control the operation of the sliverdelivery end of the card, the pressurized fluid system including a fluidcontrol valve which is connected to a source of fluid under pressure andis operated in response to the detector, and a fluid controlled cylinderthat is operatively connected to the fluid control valve and has amovable piston that is connected to and controls the operation of thesliver delivery end of the card.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a manuallyoperable fluid valve, as a component of an improved card stop motion ofthe type described, wherein the valve can be moved to a position tooverride the normal stopping function of the stop motion when the sliveris slack, as for example when initially starting up the card or whenpiecing up a broken end.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objectswill appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the delivery end por- I tion of acarding machine with the improved stop motion shift the drive belt andcontrol the opera-tion of the delivery end of the carding machine;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantiallyalong the line 55 in FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged vertical sectional view taken substantiallyalong the line-66 in FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 7 is a somewhat schematic diagram illustrating the manner inwhich the fluid control valves operate in response to movement of thesliver detector and showing the connection of the fluid lines betweenthese valves and the fluid controlled operator piston.

The conventional parts of the carding machine which are shown in thedrawings will first be described and then the improved stop motion ofthe present invention will be described in association therewith. Onlythe front or delivery end of a conventional carding machine is shown inthe drawings because this is the only part of the card that iscontrolled by the present invention.

As shown in FIGURE 1, the card includes a main cylinder or swift 10which is supported for rotation in a conventional manner on the mainframe 11 of the card. The fibers are conventionally transferred from themain cylinder 10 to a dofler cylinder 12 which is also supported forrotation on the frame 11. The fibers are then removed from the doffercylinder 12 in a conventional manner, usually by a reciprocating comb ordoffer blade, not shown, to form a forwardly moving web of fibers whichconverge and pass through a trumpet, not shown. The thin web of fibersis condensed by the trumpet to form a strand that is immediately passedbetween a pair of driven calender rolls 15 and 16 and emerges as asliver S.

The sliver S moves upwardly from the calender rolls 15 and 16 (FIGURE 2)and is drawn through a second trumpet, not shown, as it is drawn into acoiler head mechanism 20. The coiler head 20 is supported on the upperend of a drive shaft housing or column 21, the lower end of which isfixed in a coiler can platform 22 (FIGURE 1). A sliver receiving coilercan 23 is supported at its lower end on the platform 22 and is rotatedthereby as the sliver S is drawn through the coiler head 20 and fed intothe can 23 in a conventional manner.

A driving belt 35 (FIGURES l and 4) extends forwardly from the input endof the card, not shown, and engages a barrow pulley 36 which is fixed onone end of a delivery end power shaft 37. The delivery end power shaft37 has a relatively small barrow pinion 38 fixed thereto adjacent thebarrow pulley 36 (FIGURE 4). This end of the delivery end power shaft 37is supported for rotation in the medial portion of a knock-off lever 40,one end of which is pivotally supported on the frame 11 (FIGURE 1) andthe other end of which is normally supported by a cam lever 41 which ispivoted on the frame 11.

When the knock-off lever 40 is supported in the position shown in FIGURE1 by the cam lever 41, the small barrow pinion 38 drivingly engages theteeth of a large dofier cylinder drive gear 42 which is fixed on one endof the supporting shaft of the doffer cylinder 12. The doffer gear 42 inturn drivingly engages a train of drive gears, not shown, which aresupported for rotation in a gear housing 43 (FIGURE 1). The gears in thehousing 43 impart rotation to a calender roll drive shaft 44 (FIG- URE2) which extends inwardly from the gear housing 43. The lower calenderroll 16 is fixed on the drive shaft 44 and the upper calender roll 15 isdriven by means of conventional drive gears, not shown, which aresupported in a gear housing 45. The drive gears in the housing 45 aredrivingly connected to a vertically disposed drive shaft, not shown,which is supported in the drive column 21 to impart rotation to thecoiler head mechanism as well as the coiler can drive mechanism in thecoiler can platform 22.

Thus, when the knock-off lever 40 is supported by the cam lever 41, asshown in FIGURE 1, and the belt is in engagement with the barrow pulley36, as shown in FIGURE 4, motion is imparted to the delivery end of thecard in timed relationship to rotation of the main cylinder 10 by meansof the barrow pinion 38 on the power shaft 37, the doifer cylinder gear42, and the trains of gears within the gear housings 43 and 45. Thesliver 5 produced by the card is thus maintained at a predeterminedtension as it is fed from the calender rolls 15, 16 and into the coilerhead mechanism 20.

In many carding machines, it is left to the operator to stop thedelivery end of the card when the sliver S is broken or becomesunusually slack or untensioned. In many instances, the operator will notobserve the malfunction until the sliver has run out onto the floor andhas accumulated a great amount of waste. Then, the operator can stop thedelivery of the sliver S by manually moving the cam lever 41 to allowthe outer end of the knockoff lever 40 to move downwardly and lower thebarrow pinion 38 out of engagement with the doffer gear 42. After thedefect in the sliver S has been corrected, the operator can start thedelivery of the sliver S by raising the outer end of the knock-off lever46 to raise the power shaft 37 and move the pinion 38 back into drivingengagement with the doffer gear 42. The cam lever 41 is then moved tothe position shown in FIGURE 1 to support the outer end of the knock-offlever 40 in driving position.

This manual raising and lowering of the knock-off lever 40 to start andstop operation of the delivery end of the card has been objectionablebecause of the sudden starting and stopping and many times the gearteeth on the pinion 38 and gear 42 are broken. In order to overcomethese objections, many carding machines are provided with an idlerpulley 48 (FIGURE 4) which is supported for free rotation on the shaft37 and positioned adjacent the barrow pulley 36. In order to stopoperation of the delivery end of the card, the driving belt 35 may beshifted from the barrow pulley 36 to the idler pulley 48, as shown indotted lines in FIGURE 4, and the pinion 38 can remain in engagementwith the doffer gear 42. In the card heretofore described, the sliverdelivery end can be stopped and started by movement of the knockoff camlever 41 and knock-off lever 40 or by movement of the belt 35 betweenthe pulleys 36 and 48. Since either of these means can be operated tocontrol the operation of the sliver delivery means, they will bereferred to generally as means for controlling the advance of the sliverand the improved stop motion, which will now be described, can beadapted to operate either of these means.

In the present instance, the improved stop motion includes means toshift the delivery end drive belt 35, however, it could be easilyadapted to operate the cam lever 41 to control the position of theknock-off lever 40. The stop motion includes means for detecting a breakor slackening of tension in the sliver S or what is generally referredto as a sliver detector, which includes a troughshaped guide or spoon 50which is suitably secured to the upper end of a control rod 51. One endof a counterweight support rod 52 (FIGURE 2) is supported for verticaladjustment adjacent the upper end of the control rod 51 and, in thepresent instance, the inner end of the support rod 52 is supported in avertically adjustable collar which surrounds the control rod 51. Theouter end of the support rod 52 has a counterweight 53 supported forlongitudinal adjustment thereon.

The lower end of the control rod 51 is pivotally supported as at 55(FIGURE 6) at one end of a support bracket 56. The free end of thesupport bracket forms the lower end back walls of a control box which isprovided with a removable cover 57 that is suitably secured in positionthereon. The other end of the support bracket 56 is suitably supportedfor vertical and radial adjustment on the drive shaft support housing21.

A guide tube 58 is suitably secured to the front upper portion of thecover 57 (FIGURES 3 and 6) for engagement by the sliver S as it isguided upwardly to the detector spoon 50. As the lower portion of thecontrol lever 51 passes through an opening in the cover 57 of thecontrol box, it passes through a resilient bellows type boot 60 which issuitably connected to the box cover at its lower end and at its upperend to the control lever 51 (FIGURE 6). The lower portion of the controlrod 51 engages the outer free end of a control plunger or movableelement 61 which extends into valve means which include a fluid valvehousing 62 that is supported within the control box at the end of thesupport bracket 56 (FIGURE 6). The valve housing 62 contains a pair offluid control valves, which are shown schematically at 62a and 62b inFIGURE 7. The valves 62a and 62b are normally held in the solid lineposition shown by the control plunger 61 (shown in dotted lines inFIGURE 7) which is maintained in engagement with the control rod 51 byyieldable urging means such as spring 77 and the control rod 51 when themoving sliver S is properly tensioned. Secondary valve means whichincludes a manually operable fluid control valve 63 (FIGURES 3 land 7)is also supported within the control box. The fluid control valves 62a,62b and 63 and the manner in which they operate will be presentlydescribed.

As best shown in FIGURES 4 and 5, a bracket 65 is removably secured to avertically extending rib of the card frame 11 and has one end ofpneumatically operated actuating means such as a fluid operated cylinder66 suitably secured thereto. A piston 67 is mounted for longitudinalmovement inside of the cylinder 66 and has a piston rod which issuitably connected to a belt shifter 70. The belt shifter 70 is shown asa flanged rotatable member supported for free rotation on the piston rodand with the flan-ges adapted to engage and guide the drive belt 35 toshift the same between the pulleys 36 and 48. When the piston 67 ismoved to the opposite end of the cylinder 66, from the position shown inFIGURE 4, the shifter 76 and the belt 35 will be shifted to the dottedline position and from the barrow pulley 36 to the idler pulley 48 tostop the operation of the delivery end of the card. Then, when thepiston 67 is withdrawn back into the cylinder 66 to the position shownin FIGURE 4, the belt 35 will be shifted from the idler pulley 48 andonto the barrow pulley 36 to again start operation of the delivery endof the card. The cylinder 66, piston 67 and belt shifter 70 make up thepneumatically operated actuating means which is operatively connected tothe control means that controls operation of the delivery end of thecard.

While the valves 62a, 62b and 63, as well as the cylinder 66, could beof the hydraulic type and connected to a suitable source of hydraulicfluid under pressure, it is preferred that they be of the type thatoperate on compressed air, since most textile mills already havesuitable sources of compressed air which are used for cleaning andblowing lint off of the machines. As shown in FIG- URE 7 first conduitmeans are provided by means of which, the valve 62a is connected by aline 72 to one end of the cylinder 66 and the valve 62b is connected tothe opposite end of the cylinder 66 by a line 73. Second conduit meansare also provided for connecting the valves 62a, 62b to an associatedsource of fluid pressure which include line 74 is connected at one endto the manually operable valve 63 and its other end is branched to formbranch lines 74a and 7412 that are connected to the valves 62a and 6212.A main air supply line 75 is connected at one end to the manual valve 63and its opposite end is suitably connected to any convenient source ofcompressed air, schematically indicated at 76.

As is schematically indicated in FIGURE 7, each of the valves 62a, 62band 63 have ball-type valve elements having one flat or recessed surfaceand upwardly extending operating levers connected to the valve balls.Each of the valves is provided with an annular air passageway whichsurrounds the ball valve and is adapted to be communicated with theinlet and exhaust ports.

The plunger 6-1 controls movement of the operating levers of the valves62a, 62b between the solid and dotted line positions shown in FIGURE 7and the plunger 61 normally maintains the levels in the solid lineposition shown by pressure of the control rod 51 against the plunger 61yielding urged by the spring 77 into engagement with the control rod 51.When a break in the sliver S occurs to release the pressure on the:control rod 51, the spring 77 moves the plunger 61 and the levers andball valves of the valves 62a and 62b to the dotted line positionsshown, so that the air supply line 74a is connected to the line 72 andthe piston 67 will move to the opposite end of the air cylinder 66 andmove the belt 35 onto the idler pulley 48. Since the ball valve in thevalve 62b is moved to the dotted line position, the line 73 is connectedto the exhaust port of the valve 62b so that the air on the oppositeside of the piston 67 is exhausted as the piston moves from right toleft in FIGURE 7.

When the card is operating properly and the sliver S, extending betweenthe calender rolls 1'5, 1'6 and the coiler head 20, is under the propertension, the control arm 51 will be held in the position shown inFIGURES 2 and 7 so that the plunge-r 61 will be pushed inwardly tomaintain the valves 62a and 62b in the positions shown in FIGURE 7.Then, compressed air can enter through the line 74b and pass throughvalve 62b and line 73 and maintain the piston 67 of the air cylinder 66in an innermost position so that the drive belt 35 will remain inengagement with the barrow pulley 3 6 to continue operation of thedelivery end of the card.

The manually controlled overriding valve 63 may be switched to thedotted line position shown to prevent the compressed air from enteringthe line 74 and then movement of the valves 62a and 6212 will not causemovement of the belt shifter 70. Thus, the valve 63 can be moved to thedotted line position and the delivery end of the card can be operatedeven if the sliver S does not have sufiicient tension against the spoon50 to hold the control rod 51 against the plunger 61 with enough forceto maintain the valves 62a and 62b in the solid line position shown inFIGURE 7 For example, after a break occurs in the sliver S, it isnecessary to operate the delivery end of the card for some time beforethe proper amount of tension is obtained in the moving sliver S.

After the proper tension has been obtained in the sliver S, the manualswitch 63- may be moved to the solid line position and then operation ofthe card will be under control of the detector spoon 50. The amount offorce that the detector spoon 50 applies against the moving sliver S canbe adjusted by varying the vertical position of the support rod 52 onthe control rod 51 and the longitudial position of the counterweight 56on the support rod 52.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferredembodiment of the invention and, although specific terms are employed,they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in theclaims.

I claim:

1. A stop motion for a carding machine comprising in combination, amovable sliver detector arranged to engage an advancing sliver formed bysaid carding machine, means on said carding machine for controlling theadvance of said sliver, pneumatically operated means for actuating saidcontrol means, valve means including a movable element for operativelycommunicating said pneumatically operated actuating means with anassociated source of fluid pressure, means for yieldingly urging saidmovable element against said sliver detector, said sliver detector withsaid movable element in engagement therewith being maintained in oneposition by said advancing sliver against said urging means to operatesaid pneumatically operated means with said fluid pressure through saidvalve means and actuate said control means for continuous advance ofsaid sliver, said sliver detector with said movable element inengagement therewith being movable to a second position by said urgingmeans upon the occurrence of a break or a reduction in tension in saidsliver to operate said pneumatically opera-ted actuating means with saidfluid pressure through said valve means and actuate said control meansto stop the advance of said sliver.

2. A card stop motion in accordance with claim 1 including secondaryvalve means for disconnecting said associated source of fluid pressurefrom said valve means to prevent the operation of said pneumaticallyoperated actuating means in the second position of said sliver detectorand said movable element.

,3 A card stop motion in accordance with claim 1 wherein said sliverdetector includes a pivotally mounted rod having an upper end andwherein said movable element is yieldingly maintained in engagement withsaid control rod by said urging means, a trough-shaped guide on said rodupper end for guidably receiving said advancing sliver to maintain saidrod and said movable element in said one position.

4. A card stop motion in accordance with claim 3 including a support rodsupported at one end for longitudinal adjustment on said control rod andextending laterally therefrom at a right angle and a counterwight membersupported for longitudinal adjust-ment on said support rod.

5. A card stop motion in accordance with claim 1 wherein saidpneumatically operated actuating means includes a fluid pressurecylinder, a piston having a piston rod reciprocably movable within saidcylinder and means connecting said piston rod to said means forcontrolling the advance of said sliver, said valve means being arrangedto communicate said source of fluid pressure with said cylinder on oneside of said piston to actuate said control means for continuous advanceof the sliver when said sliver detector and movable element are in saidone position and to communicate said source of fluid pressure to saidcylinder on the other side of said piston when said sliver detector andmovable element are in said second position to actuate said controlmeans and stop the advance of said sliver upon the occurrence of a breakor reduction in tension in said sliver.

6. A card stop motion in accordance with claim 5 wherein said means forcontrolling the advance of said sliver include means for advancing saidsliver, a driving belt, a drive pulley arranged to be driven by saiddriving belt, means for connecting said drive pulley to said sliveradvancing means, an idler pulley positioned adjacent said drive pulleyand means connecting said piston rod to said driving belt to shift saiddriving belt from said drive pulley to said idler pulley when saidsource of fluid pressure is communicated with said cylinder on saidother side of said piston to stop the advance of said sliver by saidsliver advancing means.

7. A card stop motion in accordance with claim 1 wherein saidpneumatically operated actuating means includes a fluid pressurecylinder, a piston having a piston rod 'reciprocably movable within saidcylinder and means connecting said piston rod to said means forcontrolling the advance of said sliver, and wherein said valve meansincludes a pair of valves each having a movable valve element, firstconduit means connecting said pair of valves to said cylinder onopposite sides of said piston, second conduit means connecting said pairof valves to an associated source of fluid pressure and wherein saidmovable element comprises a control plunger operatively connected tosaid pair of valves and where-in said urging means includes a spring foryieldingly urging said control plunger together with said sliverdetector into said second position, said valve elements being movable bysaid plunger against said spring to communicate said source of fluidpressure through said second conduit means with said cylinder on saidone side of said piston and simultaneously exhaust said cylinder fromsaid other side of said piston through said first conduit means whensaid sliver detector and plunger are in said one position for continuousadvance of said sliver, said pair of valve elements being movable bysaid spring to communicate said source of fluid pressure With saidcylinder on said other side of said piston and simultaneously exhaustsaid cylinder from said one side of said piston to actuate said controlmeans through said piston rod when said slivezr detector and plunger arein said second position to stop the advance of said sliver upon theoccurrence of a break or a reduction in tension in said sliver.

8. A card stop motion in accordance with claim 7 including a manuallyoperated valve in said second conduit means for communicating saidassociated source of fluid pressure With said pair of valves, saidmanually operated valve being operable to prevent the actuation of saidcontrol means through said cylinder when said sliver detector andplunger are in said second position for continuous advance of saidsliver.

References Cited by the Examiner FOREIGN PATENTS 10/ 1928 France.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner.

DONALD W. PARKER, Examiner. 15 D. NEWTON, Assistant Examiner.

1. A STOP MOTION FOR A CARDING MACHINE COMPRISING IN COMBINATION, AMOVABLE SLIVER DETECTOR ARRANGED TO ENGAGE AN ADVANCING SLIVER FORMED BYSAID CARDING MACHINE, MEANS ON SAID CARDING MACHINE FOR CONTROLLING THEADVANCE OF SAID SLIVER, PNEUMATICALLY OPERATED MEANS FOR ACTUATING SAIDCONTROL MEANS, VALVE MEANS INCLUDING A MOVABLE ELEMENT FOR OPERATIVELYCOMMUNICATING SAID PNEUMATICALLY OPERATED ACTUATING MEANS WITH ANASSOCIATED SOURCE OF FLUID PRESSURE, MEANS FOR YIELDINGLY URGING SAIDMOVABLE ELEMENT AGAINST SAID SLIVER DETECTOR, SAID SLIVER DETECTOR WITHSAID MOVABLE ELEMENT IS ENGAGEMENT THEREWITH BEING MAINTAINED IN ONEPOSITION BY SAID ADVANCING SLIVER AGAINST SAID URGING MEANS TO OPERATESAID PNEUMATICALLY OPERATED MEANS WITH SAID FLUID PRESSURE THROUGH SAIDVALVE MEANS AND ACTUATE SAID CONTROL MEANS FOR CONTINUOUS ADVANCE OFSAID SLIVER, SAID SLIVER DETECTOR WITH SAID MOVABLE ELEMENT INENGAGEMENT THEREWITH BEING MOVABLE TO A SECOND POSITION BY SAID URGINGMEANS UPON THE OCCURRENCE OF A BREAK OR A REDUCTION IN TENSION IN SAIDSLIVER TO OPERATE SAID PNEUMATICALLY OPERATED ACTUATING MEANS WITH SAIDFLUID PRESSURE THROUGH SAID VALVE MEANS AND ACTUATE SAID CONTROL MEANSTO STOP THE ADVANCE OF SAID SLIVER.